"I think it's you that's ashamed of the truth, Lucy." She wasn't afraid to argue with that woman- she'd done it a million times before.
They hadn't seen eye- to- eye since the moment they'd met- this wasn't new to them.
"You've kept her from us." Lucy raised a brow, pointing her index at the older woman out of spite.
"I've never kept her away from you." Stevie's heart was racing, this feeling of nerves and built up anger washing over her instantly. "I used to pray that you and Crosby would get your shit together just enough to visit her, at least." Her voice got louder- she wasn't yelling, but she also wasn't using her best inside voice either.
"You could have called." She tossed her hands to her sides, also raising her voice. "You didn't even-"
"That isn't my responsibility!" Stevie finally let it go- she yelled... loud. "It is my job to raise a happy, healthy child, not reach out to the worthless parents that gave her up!" It was ruthless, it really was, but it was also true.
"You didn't want me in her life to begin with!" She yelled back. "You acted like she was yours from the moment she came into this world!" Lucy had thought about saying all of these things to her for years and finally, it was her chance.
Stevie paused for a moment, a deep, sharp breath escaping her. "You didn't love her..." She announced in a much softer, but still very upset tone. "You didn't love her from the start." She knew that- it was so obvious, and it broke her heart for a long time.
"You didn't-"
"You didn't even send her a birthday card!" She shouted, cutting her off as she motioned with her hands. "That's pathetic."
"You made it so hard." She admitted with tears in her eyes. "You made it impossible to want to be in this family." She knew how to hurt her feelings- she'd been around Crosby long enough to figure it out.
Stevie scoffed, nodding her head. "I'm so, so sorry that you feel that way about me." She was being sarcastic- she didn't have to prove anything to Lucy anymore. "But I'm still her mother, legally." She could be mean, too. "So you better watch what you say to me, because I promise you, if you keep telling my daughter stuff like that," she held a hand to her chest, eyes wide. "You and your disrespectful mother won't see her until she's eighteen." When she said that promised, she really meant it.
"Mom..." Everleighs voice coming from behind caused her heart to sink into the very pit of her stomach.
She had come in through the garage door, after she'd forgotten her wallet in the kitchen. And of course, just like all good dramas, she happened to walk in right at the end of their argument.
Closing her eyes for a moment, Stevie felt this immense amount of regret flood through her right away. "Everleigh..." she slowly turned around to face her, this look of pure embarrassment and sadness lingering in her eyes. "That was not what it sounded like." She was going to try to defend herself, but the way those blue orbs melted into hers, told her that it was no use.
She had heard enough...
"It sounded pretty clear to me." She mumbled as this thick set of tears glossed over her eyes.
Pursing her lips to one side, Lucy motioned towards the door. "Come on, Ev." She held out a hand, and without another word, the teenager followed.
~~~
A big house gets pretty lonely when it's just one person, which is exactly what Stevie was feeling after a couple of hours by herself. She had made a dinner that no one ate, watched a movie that no one else watched and then found herself sitting alone, staring out at the moon that no one else was looking at.
It was boring... she was bored and really lonely, which didn't happen very often anymore.
Letting out a soft sigh, she sank back in her chair.
She'd been sitting out on the back patio with a glass of wine and her book in her lap. She hadn't even read an entire page before she got lost in thought.
She knew that she had gone too far in her argument with Lucy... She knew how to control those emotions, but it wasn't easy. In fact, it was so hard to listen to that woman go on about things she didn't even know, or understand.
She couldn't do it, and that proved just how upset it all made her.
"Pick up..." she whispered as she dialed his number once more.
She had called him twice already, neither of her calls going through, which was a real let down. She just wanted to talk to someone who would listen and that someone was always her husband, no matter what their situation was at the time.
But of course- the night she felt like she truly needed him, he didn't answer the phone.
With tears in her eyes, she slowly brought a hand up to her face as she set the phone back down on the table.
It felt like everything- all the things she loved in life were slipping right through the cracks and no one was there to help her catch it.
